Beth Medrash Govoha

Yeshiva students fill the sidewalk as they walk toward another day of Torah/Talmud study in Lakewood, New Jersey.Credit Laura Pedrick for The New York Times

By Carolyn Yeager

“What we require is simple: that we control everything necessary for our own good.” … the Jewish philosopher Spinoza

In 2013, Tablet, a daily online magazine of Jewish news and culture, published an article in praise and recognition of the rapidly expanding Orthdox community in Lakewood, New Jersey. Written by David Landes (naturally a Jew) from a Jewish point of view that growth is good, there was no mention of the dissatisfaction and displacement of the established Goy population of Lakewood. The thrust of the article is 'What is good for the Jews is good', period. The only criticism mentioned was coming from “the more hardline Israeli Haredis” who have an even more “uncompromising stance” toward the larger society in which they live.